José Clavijo y Fajardo: …editor of the literary periodical El pensador, he issued constant attacks against the performance of these plays, which had become little more than vulgar public spectacles. Because of his activity, the autos sacramentales were eventually banned in 1765. His love affair with Louise, sister of the French playwright Pierre-Augustin Caron…

Spanish literature: Women writers: …for women increased dramatically, and La Pensadora Gaditana (1763–64), the first Spanish newspaper for women, was published by Beatriz Cienfuegos (believed by some to have been a man’s pseudonym). But the death of King Charles III in 1788 and the horror spread by the French Revolution brought an abrupt halt…

pensée, a thought expressed in literary form. A pensée can be short and in a specific form, such as an aphorism or epigram, or it can be as long as a paragraph or a page. The term originated with French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal, whose Pensées (1670) was a collection of some 800

Blaise Pascal: Pensées: Pascal finally decided to write his work of Christian apologetics, Apologie de la religion chrétienne, as a consequence of his meditations on miracles and other proofs of Christianity. The work remained unfinished at his death. Between the summers of 1657 and 1658, he put…

Denis Diderot: Mature career: Diderot’s own Pensées philosophiques (1746; Philosophic Thoughts), an original work with new and explosive anti-Christian ideas couched in a vivid prose, contains many passages directly translated from or inspired by Shaftesbury. The proceeds of this publication, as of his allegedly indecent novel Les Bijoux indiscrets (1748), were used to meet…

Denis Diderot: The Encyclopédie: …in 1754 he published the Pensées sur l’interprétation de la nature (“Thoughts on the Interpretation of Nature”), an influential short treatise on the new experimental methods in science. Diderot published few other works in his lifetime, however. His writings, in manuscript form, were known only to his friends and the…

Italy: The Italian republics of 1796–99: …described these events in his Pensieri politici (1798; “Political Meditations”), one of the most important examples of Italian Jacobin thought.

Giuseppe Mazzini: Triumvir of republican Rome.: …journal in London: this was Pensiero ed azione (“Thought and Action”), a title reflecting his view that thought is only of value when it results in action. He did not participate in the Franco-Piedmontese war against Austria in 1859, by which Cavour with the help of Napoleon III vainly sought…

pension, series of periodic money payments made to a person who retires from employment because of age, disability, or the completion of an agreed span of service. The payments generally continue for the remainder of the natural life of the recipient, and sometimes to a widow or other survivor.

John Boehner: House of Representatives: majority leader and minority leader: Boehner also introduced the Pension Protection Act in 2006 (signed into law in August 2008), which helped to prevent large failures in the pension system resulting from unwise investments. Boehner was elected to serve as his party’s majority leader in 2006 and served as minority leader since 2007. In…

pensionary, powerful political office in the Dutch Republic (United Provinces; 1579–1795). Pensionaries, originally the secretaries and legal advisers of the town corporations, were first appointed in the 15th century. They were members of the town delegations in the provincial States (assemblies).

pensionary, powerful political office in the Dutch Republic (United Provinces; 1579–1795). Pensionaries, originally the secretaries and legal advisers of the town corporations, were first appointed in the 15th century. They were members of the town delegations in the provincial States (assemblies).

Spain: Finance: …savings banks is the Barcelona-based La Caja de Ahorros y de Pensiones (the Bank for Pensions and Savings), popularly known as “La Caixa.” La Caixa is the largest shareholder in the CaixaBank financial group, proof that the boundary between savings banks and commercial banks had become somewhat blurry in the…

Pensive, (foaled 1941), American racehorse (Thoroughbred) who in 1944 won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes but lost at the Belmont Stakes, ending his bid for the coveted Triple Crown of American horse racing. Pensive was bred at Calumet Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, and owned by noted

penstemon, (genus Penstemon), genus herbaceous plants of the family Plantaginaceae (order Lamiales), containing about 270 species native to North America, particularly the western United States. The flowers are usually large and showy, tubular, and bilaterally symmetrical and have four fertile

Hoover Dam: …into huge steel pipes called penstocks. The water, after falling some 500 feet (150 metres) through the pipes to a hydroelectric power plant in the base of the dam, turns 17 Francis-type vertical hydraulic turbines, which rotate a series of electric generators that have a total power capacity of 2,080…

full-cell process: …creosote, oil-based chemicals such as pentachlorophenol (PCP), and aqueous solutions of compounds such as chromated copper arsenate (CCA), ammoniacal copper zinc arsenate (ACZA), and copper azole (CA-B). Creosote, PCP, and CCA are used on heavy structural members such as railroad ties, utility poles, marine pilings, and bridge timbers; ACZA and…

Pentaceratops, (genus Pentaceratops), five-horned herbivorous dinosaur found as fossils in North America and possibly eastern Asia dating from the Late Cretaceous Period (about 100 million to 65.5 million years ago). Pentaceratops was about 6 metres (20 feet) long and had one horn on its snout, one

perciform: Annotated classification: Family Pentacerotidae (pelagic armorheads) Resemble Chaetodontidae but with higher dorsal fin and much larger dorsal, anal, and pelvic spines; dorsal fin usually strongly elevated; head rough with exposed bony plates; snout usually elongated bearing small mouth at its end; lips with “hairy” skin. About 12 species,…

full-cell process: …creosote, oil-based chemicals such as pentachlorophenol (PCP), and aqueous solutions of compounds such as chromated copper arsenate (CCA), ammoniacal copper zinc arsenate (ACZA), and copper azole (CA-B). Creosote, PCP, and CCA are used on heavy structural members such as railroad ties, utility poles, marine pilings, and bridge timbers; ACZA and…

pentagram: …a symbol known as a pentacle. In these traditions the five points often represent the five elements of air, fire, water, earth, and spirit. For Wiccans the pentagram may also symbolize masculine and feminine, or the Triple Goddess (three points) and the Horned God (two points). Many Neo-Pagans consider the…

Kyrenia Mountains, mountain range in northern Cyprus extending east to west for about 100 miles (160 km) from Cape Andreas, on the Karpas Peninsula, to Cape Kormakiti. Rising from the coast a short distance inland, the range flanks a narrow coastal plain and reaches a maximum height of 3,360 feet

tallow tree: …tree of Sierra Leone is Pentadesma butyracea, of the family Guttiferae (also called Clusiaceae).

Brassicales: The Resedaceae group: Pentadiplandraceae is a small family (one genus with one or two species) of shrubs or lianas from Western Africa. The expanded petal bases are concave and coherent, forming a cavity, and each petal has a thin, free, more conventional-looking petal lobe with a very narrow…

PETN, a highly explosive organic compound belonging to the same chemical family as nitroglycerin and nitrocellulose. PETN has the chemical formula C5H8N4O12. It is prepared by reacting pentaerythritol (C5H12O4), an alcohol traditionally used in paints and varnishes, with nitric acid (HNO2). The

alkanet: …white-eyed blue flowers characterize the evergreen alkanet, or evergreen bugloss (Pentaglottis sempervirens), which reaches 1 metre (3.3 feet). All three species grow in fields and roadside waste spaces in Europe, and true alkanet has become naturalized in some areas of eastern North America.

Pentagon, large five-sided building in Arlington county, Virginia, near Washington, D.C., that serves as the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense, including all three military services—Army, Navy, and Air Force. Constructed during 1941–43, the Pentagon was intended to consolidate the

Pentagon Papers, papers that contain a history of the U.S. role in Indochina from World War II until May 1968 and that were commissioned in 1967 by U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara. They were turned over (without authorization) to The New York Times by Daniel Ellsberg, a senior research

military-industrial complex, network of individuals and institutions involved in the production of weapons and military technologies. The military-industrial complex in a country typically attempts to marshal political support for continued or increased military spending by the national government.

pentagram, a five-pointed star, usually drawn by using one continuous line of five straight segments. It has been used throughout history as a symbol, often in magic or the occult. Its meaning has varied wildly over time, and it has functioned as a symbol of protection, of perfection, of the Devil,

ancient Greek civilization: The rejection of Cimon: …top two “Solonian” groups, the pentakosiomedimnoi and the cavalry class who were bracketed together on the one hand (as by Thucydides in one military context), while the zeugitai and thētes tended to be bracketed together on the other. No built-in class cleavage existed between the hoplite or zeugite class and…

Silurian Period: Pentamerid communities: The Pentamerus community was an early Silurian community dominated by the large-shelled brachiopod (lamp shell) of the species Pentamerus oblongus. The community often included 5 to 20 associated species, although enormous populations of only one species sometimes are found preserved in growth position.…

Tetrameristaceae: …and the single species of Pentamerista grows in the Guiana Highlands of Venezuela. Both genera have spiral short-stalked leaves with indistinct venation and marginal glands and bear fleshy fruits that are presumably dispersed by animals. Tetramerista has glistening dots on the inner surfaces of the petals and sepals.

nonfictional prose: Dialogues: …his Imaginary Conversations (1824) and Pentameron (1837).

Giambattista Basile: Basile’s collection, Lo cunto de li cunti (1634; “The Story of Stories”; best Italian translation B. Croce, 1925; best English translation N.B. Penzer, The Pentamerone, 2 vol., 1932), was published posthumously under the anagrammatic pseudonym Gian Alesio Abbattutis and referred to by its first editor as Il…

Giambattista Basile: Basile’s collection, Lo cunto de li cunti (1634; “The Story of Stories”; best Italian translation B. Croce, 1925; best English translation N.B. Penzer, The Pentamerone, 2 vol., 1932), was published posthumously under the anagrammatic pseudonym Gian Alesio Abbattutis and referred to by its first editor as Il…

Silurian Period: Pentamerid communities: … (lamp shell) of the species Pentamerus oblongus. The community often included 5 to 20 associated species, although enormous populations of only one species sometimes are found preserved in growth position. The Pentamerus community and its slightly older and younger equivalents dominated by similar pentamerid species in the genera Virgiana, Borealis,…

pentameter, in poetry, a line of verse containing five metrical feet. In English verse, in which pentameter has been the predominant metre since the 16th century, the preferred foot is the iamb—i.e., an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one, represented in scansion as ˘ ´. Geoffrey Chaucer

antiprotozoal drug: …treatment of these diseases is pentamidine isethionate, which probably affects the parasite by binding to DNA.

cat shark: …span the families Scyliorhinidae and Pentanchidae. Some classifications, however, place all cat sharks in the family Scyliorhinidae. The genus Apristurus, which is made up of the demon cat sharks and ghost cat sharks, contains as many as 39 species and may be the most diverse shark genus known.

natural gas: Hydrocarbon content: butane, pentane, and hexane. In natural gas reservoirs even the heavier hydrocarbons occur for the most part in gaseous form because of the higher pressures. They usually liquefy at the surface (at atmospheric pressure) and are produced separately as natural gas liquids (NGLs), either in field…

Devendra Banhart: …Incredible String Band, Vashti Bunyan, Pentangle, Fairport Convention, Bert Jansch, Nick Drake, and Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd.

Asterales: Other families: Members of Pentaphragmataceae are found from Southeast Asia to New Guinea and constitute a single genus of 30 species of herbs. Alseuosmiaceae features five genera with 10 species of shrubs native to Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, and New Caledonia. The two genera of Argophyllaceae have a…

Pentaphylacaceae, flowering plant family of the order Ericales, composed of some 12 genera. The family is characterized by small flowers borne singly in the leaf axils (where the leaf stem and the branch meet) and curved embryos. Restructured by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group III (APG III)

Pentaphylacaceae: …a single tree species (P. euryoides) that is scattered from Sumatra to China. It has spirally arranged evergreen leaves with entire margins (smooth, without teeth). The pollen sacs appear to be borne transversely on the stout filaments, and they open by flaps. There are only two ovules in each…

North Africa: The Greeks in Cyrenaica: …while Barce declined; the term Pentapolis came to be used for the five cities Apollonia, Cyrene, Ptolemais, Taucheira, and Berenice. In 96 bc Ptolemy Apion bequeathed Cyrenaica to Rome, which annexed the royal estates but left the cities free. Disorders led Rome to create a regular province out of Cyrenaica…

moss animal: Size range and diversity of structure: Colonies of the European Pentapora, however, can reach one metre (3.3 feet) or more in circumference; a warm-water gymnolaemate genus, Zoobotryon, which hangs from harbour pilings, and the freshwater phylactolaemate Pectinatella each produce masses that may be one-half metre across. Colonies that form crusts generally cover only a few…

pentarchy, in early Byzantine Christianity, the proposed government of universal Christendom by five patriarchal sees under the auspices of a single universal empire. Formulated in the legislation of the emperor Justinian I (527–565), especially in his Novella 131, the theory received formal

pentastomid, any of about 100 species of tiny parasites belonging to the Pentastomida, now generally considered a subclass of the phylum Arthropoda. Pentastomids range from a few millimetres to 14 cm (about 6 inches) in length and lack respiratory, circulatory, and excretory organs. Pentastomids

pentastomid, any of about 100 species of tiny parasites belonging to the Pentastomida, now generally considered a subclass of the phylum Arthropoda. Pentastomids range from a few millimetres to 14 cm (about 6 inches) in length and lack respiratory, circulatory, and excretory organs. Pentastomids

Torah, in Judaism, in the broadest sense, the substance of divine revelation to Israel, the Jewish people: God’s revealed teaching or guidance for humankind. The meaning of “Torah” is often restricted to signify the first five books of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), also called the Law (or the

John Colenso: …this position, presented in his Pentateuch and Book of Joshua Critically Examined (1862–79), for his opposition to the doctrine of eternal punishment for sinners, and for his toleration of polygamy among the Zulus, Colenso was summoned in 1863 by his superior, Bishop Robert Gray of Cape Town, to appear before…

biblical literature: The modern period: …Joseph Herman Hertz’s commentary on The Pentateuch and Haftorahs (1929–36) and in the Soncino Books of the Bible (1946–51). Martin Buber (1878–1965), the great modern Jewish philosopher, imparted to his many studies in biblical literature and religion—including his revolutionary German translation of the Bible (1926 and following), partly executed in…

pentathlon, athletic contest entailing five distinct types of competition. In the ancient Greek Olympics, the pentathlon included a race the length of the stadium (about 183 metres [200 yards]), the long jump, the discus throw, the javelin throw, and a wrestling match between the two athletes who

stinkbug, (family Pentatomidae), any of about 5,000 species of insects in the true bug order, Heteroptera, that are named for the foul-smelling secretions they produce. These odours may be transferred to the resting place of the insect, such as plants, fruits, or leaves, giving them a disagreeable

pentatonic scale, musical scale containing five different tones. It is thought that the pentatonic scale represents an early stage of musical development, because it is found, in different forms, in most of the world’s music. The most widely known form is anhemitonic (without semitones; e.g.,

warship: Greece: The so-called long penteconter, mentioned by Herodotus, was employed in exploring, raiding, and communicating with outlying colonies. Light and fast, with 25 oars to a side, it played an important role in the early spread of Grecian influence throughout the Mediterranean. As the Greek maritime city-states sped the…

Pentecost, (Pentecost from Greek pentecostē, “50th day”), major festival in the Christian church, celebrated on the Sunday that falls on the 50th day of Easter. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and other disciples following the Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension

Shavuot, (“Festival of the Weeks”), second of the three Pilgrim Festivals of the Jewish religious calendar. It was originally an agricultural festival, marking the beginning of the wheat harvest. During the Temple period, the first fruits of the harvest were brought to the Temple, and two loaves of

English literature: Drama: …such as Destiny (1976) and Pentecost (1994), his masterly response to the collapse of communism and rise of nationalism in eastern Europe. David Hare similarly widened his range with confident accomplishment; in the 1990s he completed a panoramic trilogy surveying the contemporary state of British institutions—the Anglican church (Racing Demon…

Pentecost, island of Vanuatu, in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, about 60 miles (100 km) southeast of Espiritu Santo island. Volcanic in origin, it occupies 169 square miles (438 square km) and has a central mountain ridge that rises to 3,104 feet (946 metres) at Mount Vulmat. Many permanent

United Pentecostal Church, Inc.: …1945 by merger of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ and the Pentecostal Church, Inc. It is the largest of the Jesus Only groups (a movement for which the sacrament of baptism is given in the name of Jesus only, rather than in the name of the Trinity), and it…

Pentecostal Church of God of America, Inc., Protestant denomination organized in Chicago in 1919 as the Pentecostal Assemblies of the U.S.A. by a group of ministers who had earlier refused affiliation in the General Council of the Assemblies of God (1914); the present name was adopted in 1922.

Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Inc., Protestant denomination organized in the United States in 1916 after many members withdrew from the Assemblies of God during the Jesus Only controversy, a movement that denied the standard Pentecostal belief in the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Pentecostalism, charismatic religious movement that gave rise to a number of Protestant churches in the United States in the 20th century and that is unique in its belief that all Christians should seek a post-conversion religious experience called “baptism with the Holy Spirit.” Recalling the Holy

Pentecostal Church of God of America, Inc., Protestant denomination organized in Chicago in 1919 as the Pentecostal Assemblies of the U.S.A. by a group of ministers who had earlier refused affiliation in the General Council of the Assemblies of God (1914); the present name was adopted in 1922.

Church of the Nazarene, American Protestant denomination, the product of several mergers stemming from the 19th-century Holiness movement. The first major merger occurred in 1907, uniting the Church of the Nazarene (organized in California in 1895) with the Association of Pentecostal Churches of

United Pentecostal Church, Inc.: …of Jesus Christ and the Pentecostal Church, Inc. It is the largest of the Jesus Only groups (a movement for which the sacrament of baptism is given in the name of Jesus only, rather than in the name of the Trinity), and it emphasizes justification and baptism of the Holy…

Church of the Nazarene, American Protestant denomination, the product of several mergers stemming from the 19th-century Holiness movement. The first major merger occurred in 1907, uniting the Church of the Nazarene (organized in California in 1895) with the Association of Pentecostal Churches of

Pentecostal Fellowship of North America (PFNA), cooperative organization established in Chicago in 1948 by eight Pentecostal denominations for the purpose of “interdenominational Pentecostal cooperation and fellowship.” Several Canadian and U.S. Pentecostal bodies are members of the organization.

International Pentecostal Holiness Church (IPHC), Protestant denomination organized in Falcon, North Carolina, in 1911 by the merger of the Fire-Baptized Holiness Church (organized in 1898 by several Pentecostal associations) and the Pentecostal Holiness Church (organized in 1900). A third group,

Pillar of Fire, a white Holiness church of Methodist antecedence that was organized (1901) in Denver, Colo., U.S., as the Pentecostal Union by Alma Bridwell White, who married a Methodist minister. Her evangelistic fervour brought opposition from Methodist officials, which led to her withdrawal

Pentecostalism, charismatic religious movement that gave rise to a number of Protestant churches in the United States in the 20th century and that is unique in its belief that all Christians should seek a post-conversion religious experience called “baptism with the Holy Spirit.” Recalling the Holy

Pentecost, island of Vanuatu, in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, about 60 miles (100 km) southeast of Espiritu Santo island. Volcanic in origin, it occupies 169 square miles (438 square km) and has a central mountain ridge that rises to 3,104 feet (946 metres) at Mount Vulmat. Many permanent

church year: Eastern churches: …after Easter, contained in the Pentēkostarion (post-Easter liturgical service book), including the Feast of Ascension, 40 days after Easter, and concluding with the Festival of All Saints on the Sunday after Pentecost. Other special commemorations of the period are the Feast of Orthodoxy, on the first Sunday in Lent, recalling…

Mount Pentelicus: …[1,107 m]), which yields white Pentelic marble on its north slope. In Classical times the peak had 25 quarries on the south slope at elevations between 2,500 and 3,300 feet (760 and 1000 m). These provided excellent marble for most of the buildings and sculptures of Athens in the 5th…

Mount Pentelicus, mountain range enclosing the Attic plain on its northeast but within the nomós (department) of Attica (Modern Greek: Attikí), in Greece. The chief summit, about 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Athens (Athína), is Kokkinarás (3,632 feet [1,107 m]), which yields white Pentelic marble

Mount Pentelicus, mountain range enclosing the Attic plain on its northeast but within the nomós (department) of Attica (Modern Greek: Attikí), in Greece. The chief summit, about 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Athens (Athína), is Kokkinarás (3,632 feet [1,107 m]), which yields white Pentelic marble

Mount Pentelicus, mountain range enclosing the Attic plain on its northeast but within the nomós (department) of Attica (Modern Greek: Attikí), in Greece. The chief summit, about 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Athens (Athína), is Kokkinarás (3,632 feet [1,107 m]), which yields white Pentelic marble

Penthesilea, in Greek mythology, a queen of the Amazons, well respected for her bravery, her skill in weapons, and her wisdom. She led an army of Amazons to Troy to fight against the Greeks. She was said to have killed Achilles, but Zeus brought him back to life, and Achilles killed her. One

Heinrich von Kleist: …and in 1808 he published Penthesilia, a tragic drama about the passionate love of the queen of the Amazons for Achilles. Although this play received little acclaim, it is now thought to contain some of Kleist’s most powerful poetry, with the grimness of plot and intensity of feeling that have…

Dionysus: …Thebes Dionysus was opposed by Pentheus, his cousin, who was torn to pieces by the bacchantes when he attempted to spy on their activities. Athenians were punished with impotence for dishonouring the god’s cult. Their husbands’ resistance notwithstanding, women took to the hills, wearing fawn skins and crowns of ivy…

Louis Joseph, duke of Vendôme was one of King Louis XIV’s leading generals during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14). Vendôme was the son of Louis de Vendôme, duc de Mercoeur, by his marriage to Jules Cardinal Mazarin’s niece, Laure Mancini. Vendôme entered the French Army in 1672 and had

Penthorum: …treated as its own family, Penthoraceae, or is placed in the family Saxifragaceae. Both species have underground stems, toothed leaves, and one-sided flower clusters borne at the branch tips. The ditch, or Virginian, stonecrop (Penthorum sedoides) grows to about 60 cm (2 feet) tall. It has pale greenish yellow flowers…

Penthorum, genus of two species of perennial herbs native to East Asia and eastern North America. The genus is treated as its own family, Penthoraceae, or is placed in the family Saxifragaceae. Both species have underground stems, toothed leaves, and one-sided flower clusters borne at the branch

Penthorum: The ditch, or Virginian, stonecrop (Penthorum sedoides) grows to about 60 cm (2 feet) tall. It has pale greenish yellow flowers and pale green leaves that turn bright orange as they mature. Ditch stonecrop is planted as an ornamental at the edges of pools or in…

W.S. Van Dyke: One Take Woody: Penthouse (1933) was a change of pace for Van Dyke: a snappy screwball-crime hybrid, with Warner Baxter as a lawyer who requires the help of a moll (Myrna Loy) to bring down a mobster (C. Henry Gordon). The Prizefighter and the Lady (1933) featured heavyweight…

Playboy: …from racier publications such as Penthouse, which featured cruder and more-explicit nude photography. Under the leadership of Hefner’s daughter, Christie Hefner, who was appointed president of the parent company in 1982 and served as chief executive officer from 1988 to 2009 (her father remained editor-in-chief), the magazine was recast as…

penthouse, enclosed area on top of a building. Such a structure may house the top of an elevator shaft, air-conditioning equipment, or the stairs leading to the roof; it can also provide living or working accommodations. Usually a penthouse is set back from the vertical face of a building, thus

theatre design: The 20th century and beyond: …Washington in Seattle built the Penthouse Theater, which proved to be a more practical model for the numerous theatres-in-the-round that followed. At roughly the same time, a number of theatres designed to imitate Elizabethan theatres—such as the indoor Maddermarket Theatre (1921) in Norwich, Eng., and the open-air Old Globe Theatre…

Penticton, city, southern British Columbia, Canada. It lies between Skaha and Okanagan lakes, 245 miles (394 km) east of Vancouver. The site was first settled in 1865, its name being derived from a Salish Indian word, phthauntauc (pen-hik-ton), meaning “place to stay forever.” Centred in an apple-,

pentimento, (from Italian pentirsi: “to repent”), in art, the reappearance in an oil painting of original elements of drawing or painting that the artist tried to obliterate by overpainting. If the covering pigment becomes transparent, as may happen over the years, the ghostly remains of earlier

Pentium, family of microprocessors developed by Intel Corp. Introduced in 1993 as the successor to Intel’s 80486 microprocessor, the Pentium contained two processors on a single chip and about 3.3 million transistors. Using a CISC (complex instruction set computer) architecture, its main features

Intel: Pentium microprocessor: …mistake was the so-called “Pentium flaw,” in which an obscure segment among the Pentium CPU’s 3.1 million transistors performed division incorrectly. Company engineers discovered the problem after the product’s release in 1993 but decided to keep quiet and fix the problem in updates to the chip. However, mathematician Thomas…

Robert Louis Stevenson: Early life: …century) led to his writing The Pentland Rising, his first printed work. During his years at the university he rebelled against his parents’ religion and set himself up as a liberal bohemian who abhorred the alleged cruelties and hypocrisies of bourgeois respectability.

pentlandite, a nickel and iron sulfide mineral, the chief source of nickel. It is nearly always found with pyrrhotite and similar minerals in silica-poor rocks such as those at Bushveld, S.Af.; Bodø, Nor.; and Sudbury, Ont., Can. It has also been found in meteorites. Pentlandite forms crystals that

sedative-hypnotic drug: …trade names), amobarbital (Amytal), and pentobarbital (Nembutal). When taken in high-enough doses, these drugs are capable of producing a deep unconsciousness that makes them useful as general anesthetics. In still higher doses, however, they depress the central nervous and respiratory systems to the point of coma, respiratory failure, and death.…

pentode, vacuum-type electron tube with five electrodes. Besides the cathode filament, anode plate, and control grid of the triode and the added screen grid of the tetrode, there is still another grid (suppressor grid) placed between the screen grid and the anode plate and maintained at cathode

bazooka: …8 ounces (225 grams) of pentolite, a powerful explosive that could penetrate as much as 5 inches (127 mm) of armour plate. To escape backblast, the operator held the bazooka on his shoulder with about half the tube protruding behind him. During the Korean War the M20 “Super Bazooka” was…

number game: Polyominoes: Somewhat more fascinating are the pentominoes, of which there are exactly 12 forms (Figure 19B). Asymmetrical pieces, which have different shapes when they are flipped over, are counted as one.